Interior’s New Tower Mapping Tool Features Over 10,000 BLM Areas

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UPDATE  As part of the American Broadband Initiative christened into being last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior released a new mapping tool entitled the Joint Overview of Established Locations (JOEL), designed to increase broadband internet access on federally-managed lands. The Department’s website states the map “identifies existing communications infrastructure located on federally managed lands as well as agency contact information, enabling greater insight into co-location opportunities.”

The map shows:

  • 6,064 Telecommunications Sites
  • 105 Communications Towers
  • 10,371 Bureau of Land Management Telecommunications Areas
  • 1,522 Wilderness Study Areas
  • 52 National Monument Areas
  • 1,253 Areas of Critical Environmental Concern

Filters include:

  • Communications Facilities
  • Communications Towers
  • General Telecommunications
  • Has Antenna
  • No Antenna
  • Radio Site
  • Telephone Line

“As a native of the small town of Rifle, Colorado, I know firsthand how important it is for rural communities to have to access to reliable and fast broadband services,” said Acting U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. “Interior manages nearly one fifth of the surface acreage in the United States, much of which encompasses rural areas, and therefore has an important role to play in permitting broadband infrastructure.”

The Department of the Interior, through its various bureaus and agencies, is responsible for the permitting of communications sites and transmission lines on nearly 500 million acres of federal lands. By creating the JOEL map, the department announcement said it hopes to, “provide user-friendly information that can be used to expand broadband services to currently underserved areas, and streamline the permitting process to provide the best service to the American people.”  Comments? Email Us.

February 20, 2019

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